I mean, true 
We'll see once you post results, I guess 
So yes you were in fact correct.
ROUND 7 RESULTS--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyril
Persefone – Spiritual Migration (2013)First impression: This is probably the best thing you’ve sent all roulette.
Final opinion: After two and a half roulettes in the 7.5-8.5 range, you finally break out of it two rounds in a row, this time with the best thing you’ve ever sent me. Especially after the last round, I honestly wasn’t expecting anything else this exciting for the rest of the roulette. At times it goes fully into death metal territory and has the intensity of other things you’ve sent me, but it’s all so fantastically balanced with a rich sense of melody and atmosphere, some real proggyness and a great amount of variety that makes it feel much shorter than its runtime (on that note, for someone who claims to prefer shorter albums, you’ve sent me a lot of really lengthy stuff!). And while the general style might not be wholly unique, the speed and tightness of the riffing is something I’ve just not heard in this sort of music. Performances are generally awesome all round and both the clean and harsh vocals give the music the impact it needs to make this a pretty thrilling album, and the very clear round winner. After scraping through the round 5 elimination and having a lot of luck in round 6, you’ve suddenly given yourself a shot at this.
Rating: 9/10
Score: 10 + 2 bonus = 12 points--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Puppies
At The Drive In – Relationship Of Command (2000)First impression: This is somehow simultaneously of its time and ahead of its time.
Final opinion: I should start by saying that I’ve been a big fan of One Armed Scissor since the early 2000s (end of school, early uni for me) and have had just that song in my mp3 collection since then. I must have checked the album out at some point back then, but evidently it never did anything for me and I never went back to it to rate it. But my tastes have expanded a lot over the years and I’m really glad to have (re-)discovered it. There is something about the grungy, punky sound that still very much reminds of that era. But it’s also got big aspects of both where they’d go next with The Mars Volta, and generally where post-hardcore would go later into the 2000s and beyond. The rawness doesn’t always quite work for me in every song, but it doesn’t stop it being a pretty exciting and energetic album. And while Scissor is still my favourite, there are a whole load of other great songs too - the ones I’ve been particularly enjoying are Mannequin Republic, Rolodex Propaganda and Non-Zero Possibility (incidentally, the titles are a bit ridiculous).
Rating: 8/10
Score: 8 + 1 bonus = 9 points--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luoto
Disillusion – The Liberation (2019)First impression: This is heavy, pretty proggy and surprisingly dense. I like it, but not sure how much yet.
Final opinion: You didn’t need to provide any caveats about their earlier albums, as I’ve never heard them.
So I’ve come to this album as a complete newbie to the band, and they sound rather great to me. They definitely sound more prog metal than death metal, but there’s clearly a big element of both - kind of reminds me of Watershed-era Opeth in that regard. This album isn’t nearly as aggressive or intricate as the Persefone that Cyril sent, but tonally it’s very heavy and dense. It just borders on getting too much of a slog on a couple of occasions, but always pulls back just in time. There are atmospheric moments that provide the necessary respite, some huge melodies at times, and all held together by an intense mood that works really well. Not every song is amazing (the closer for example has some great parts but does drag a bit) but they’re all at least solid. The title track is probably the standout for me, it’s absolutely epic and one of my favourites of the whole roulette.
Rating: 8/10
Score: 7.5 + 1 bonus = 8.5 points--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clortho
Jane's Addiction – Nothing's Shocking (1988)First impression: This has a great groove to a lot of it and should be up my alley, but the vocals aren’t doing it for me right now and could be a sticking point.
Final opinion: You’ve had some bad luck here because if you’d sent this last round, you’d have at least come second and maybe even won the round. I really do like a lot of it, and I can see why Cyril thought the “ahead of its time” first impression was about this, as there definitely is a 90s vibe to it and I gather the band will have quite influential. It has a great groove in a lot of the songs, some strong hooks and a sense of swagger that’s very enjoyable. I like Navarro’s guitar playing as well (I mostly know him from the album he did with the Red Hot Chili Peppers) which provides quite a bit of that swagger. As I suspected in my first impression, though, the thing that gets in the way is Perry Farrell’s vocals. I can’t remember what songs I’ve heard from Jane’s Addiction before, presumably from one of their later albums, but I don’t remember finding the vocals this irritating.
Rating: 7.5/10
Score: 6.5 points--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomi
The Cure – Disintegration (1989)First impression: This is… just a bit boring, to be honest.
Final opinion: Ok so I’ll say that this did grow on me, a little, to the extent that there are a couple of songs I rather like now (Homesick especially is genuinely really nice, and the title track is pretty cool too, with a good groove). And the rest, I’ve come to appreciate the moody vibe, but I do still find it all a bit dull and it drags a lot. I mean, why is it all so long? For my tastes, there just isn’t enough variety or interesting stuff happening to keep my attention. The Same Deep Water As You seems to encapsulate this issue - perfectly pleasant but it’s 4 minutes of content in a 9 minute song. That’s just a microcosm of the album as a whole though, which I’ve generally found hard work to get through. It works fine as background music, I want a bit more than that really.
Rating: 6.5/10
Score: 4 points--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scores after Round 7:1. (=) Luoto = 7.0 + 7.0 + 11.0 + 10.5 + 10.0 + 7.0 + 8.5 = 61.0
2. (
^) Cyril = 9.0 + 6.5 + 6.0 + 8.5 + 7.5 + 8.5 + 12.0 = 58.0
3. (
^) Puppies = 4.0 + 11.0 + 9.5 + 6.0 + 8.5 + 5.5 + 9.0 = 53.5
4. (
v) Tomi = 7.5 + 5.5 + 8.0 + 11.0 + 6.5 + 10.0 + 4.0 = 52.5
5. (
v) Clortho = 12.0 + 10.5 + 4.0 + 4.5 + 9.5 + 4.0 + 6.5 = 51.0
So as we go into the final round, Luoto is still ahead but his lead has now dropped to 3 points. We’ve seen how much movement there is in these post-elimination rounds, so Cyril definitely has a shot, and potentially even Puppies. Technically anyone can still win, but obviously much less likely for the bottom two. The battle for a bronze medal is very much on though.
Topic: ariich’s roulette 5.0 – The End (again (the actual end this time (really))) (Read 56872 times)